Programme information

Saturday 24 March to Friday 30 March 2018

WEEK 13

Photo credit: Matt Crossick

BLOWERS AROUND BRITAIN with HENRY BLOFELD

Friday 30 March, 9pm to 10pm

Tonight, Henry Blofeld (above) joins Classic FM to present a new radio series, celebrating the wealth of great composed within and written about the British Isles.

For the next four evenings, Blowers Around Britain will explore all corners of the British Isles, shining the spotlight on well-known and less familiar music, interspersed with stories behind the works and Blowers’ own recollections of what makes Britain great.

Classic FM is available across the UK on 100-102 FM, DAB digital radio and TV, at ClassicFM.com and on the Classic FM app.

1 WEEK 13

SATURDAY 24 MARCH

5pm to 7pm: SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES with ANDREW COLLINS

Andrew Collins welcomes suggestions for show themes from Classic FM listeners – and this week, he’s been challenged by Dave in Bedfordshire to select lesser-played music by famous composers. Big names like John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman and Alexandre Desplat will all make an appearance, but not with scores that have been played on the show before.

7pm to 9pm: COWAN’S CLASSICS with ROB COWAN

Rob Cowan delves into his record collection to select two hours of hand-picked recordings, and this week he’ll feature music by Philip Glass, Cole Porter and Camille Saint-Saens.

Rob’s Artist of the Week is the Amadeus Quartet, while Dvorak’s Symphony No.9 is the springboard for another trip to the New World in Beyond the Hall of Fame.

9pm to 10pm: TURNING POINTS with JULIE WALTERS

Julie Walters presents the final episode in Classic FM’s six-part series exploring the key people, moments and events that have changed and shaped classical music history as we know it.

This week, Julie turns to the future of classical music. She’ll reveal how new technologies are shaping musical ideas and launching rising stars, including Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir and the Philharmonia’s Virtual Orchestra, as well as the pianist Valentina Lisitsa – who found fame thanks to YouTube.

2 SUNDAY 25 MARCH

3pm to 5pm: KERMIT AND MISS PIGGY’S CLASSICAL COLLECTION with CHARLOTTE HAWKINS

In a special one-off programme, Charlotte Hawkins meets two of the most famous entertainers of their generation: Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.

During this fascinating and revealing exploration of their musical tastes, the two megastars explain how the music of Mozart, Grieg and Puccini has become the soundtrack to their lives, as they offer an unmissable insight into their glittering careers.

The programme will also reacquaint us with the Muppets’ unique vocal talents – in particular, Miss Piggy’s. The much-loved diva recalls her memorable 1985 performance with the world-famous tenor Placido Domingo; reflects on her sadly short-lived attempt to become an opera singer, and explains how she came to star in a new retelling of The Phantom of the Opera.

7pm to 9pm: DAVID MELLOR

With less than a week to go before this year’s Classic FM Hall of Fame countdown, tonight, David celebrates the music of Joseph Haydn – a composer David has been championing for inclusion in this year’s chart.

The programme will feature a first-class recording of Haydn’s oratorio The Creation, and a selection of his symphonies – with more than 100 to choose from. Join David for two hours of the finest music from the composer that Mozart considered to be on par with himself!

9pm to 10pm: EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT CLASSICAL MUSIC with CATHERINE BOTT

One of Catherine Bott’s new year’s resolutions was to discover more about the Italian composer, pianist and writer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He died in Beverly Hills on 16th March 1968 – 50 years ago last week – and this evening, Catherine explores his career, from his early compositions at the age of just three to his move to California, with a little help from his friends Jascha Heifetz and Arturo Toscanini.

Catherine will select a range of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s music, including one of his 100 guitar compositions and some of his film scores. We’ll hear the composers he revered, such as J.S Bach, and those he taught and influenced, including John Williams.

3 MONDAY 26 MARCH

8pm to 10pm: THE FULL WORKS CONCERT: GREAT ORCHESTRAS OF THE WORLD – LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Much has been written about the London Symphony Orchestra in recent months: their new Music Director, Sir Simon Rattle, has been the subject of many a column inch, as have the ongoing discussions about a new Centre of Music on the site of the Museum of London.

Cross to the other side of the River Thames, however, and you’ll find another outstanding British orchestra, which is frequently responsible for some of the most exciting music-making in the capital right now, and who we’re celebrating on Classic FM tonight: the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The centrepiece of our Full Works Concert is a thrilling recording of Tchaikovsky’s fate- filled Symphony No.4, under the baton of the LPO’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Director, Vladimir Jurowski. There are plenty of other treats in store, too, as Jane Jones presents this two-hour celebration of a genuinely world-class ensemble. Historic recordings with Elgar Howarth and Adrian Boult, quintessentially English music by George Butterworth, and a fine interpretation of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with soloist Milos Karadaglic all feature.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio Espagnol Opus 34 Alexander Lazarev conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Joaquin Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez Guitar: Milos Karadaglic Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4 in F minor Opus 36 Vladimir Jurowski conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra

George Butterworth The Banks of Green Willow Adrian Boult conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Leopold Mozart Trumpet Concerto in D major Trumpet: Hakan Hardenberger Elgar Howarth conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Gustav Holst A Somerset Rhapsody Opus 21 No.2 Adrian Boult conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra

4 TUESDAY 27 MARCH

8pm to 10pm: THE FULL WORKS CONCERT: GREAT ORCHESTRAS OF THE WORLD – CZECH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1894, is the focus of tonight’s Full Works Concert, as Jane Jones continues Classic FM’s Great Orchestras of the World series.

This particular ensemble has an illustrious history: Antonin Dvorak was the conductor of their first concert; Mahler led the orchestra in the world premiere of his Symphony No.7; and the orchestra’s roster of chief conductors has included outstanding maestros such as Rafael Kubelik, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Jiri Belohlavek.

It is Belohlavek who leads the Czech Philharmonic in the highlight of tonight’s Full Works Concert, beginning as we do with over an hour of uninterrupted music: Ma Vlast (‘My Homeland’), by the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana. The set of six symphonic poems is brilliantly realised by an orchestra who sound like they have this music in their very souls.

We’ll also hear the beautiful but rarely-performed Serenade for Strings by Josef Suk, and a nod towards the big screen in the shape of music from The Lion King, by Hans Zimmer.

Bedrich Smetana Ma Vlast Jiri Belohlavek conducts the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Josef Suk Serenade for Strings Opus 6 Jiri Belohlavek conducts the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Hans Zimmer The Lion King – This Land Gavin Greenaway conducts the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

5 WEDNESDAY 28 MARCH

8pm to 10pm: THE FULL WORKS CONCERT: GREAT ORCHESTRAS OF THE WORLD – FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

This year, the Festival Orchestra celebrates its 35th birthday, founded as it was in 1983 by Ivan Fischer and Zoltan Kocsis. The orchestra is, to quote The Times, “drawn from the cream of Hungary’s younger players”, and tonight, we’ll hear those very players in a range of fine recordings.

Jane Jones begins with the beauty of Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, before going on to showcase the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s mastery of Romantic repertoire, thanks to a thrilling take on Dvorak’s Symphony No.9 (‘From the New World’), and a colourful interpretation of Kodaly’s Hary Janos Suite. Interpersed between those orchestral warhorses is a playful and inventive account of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4, which sees the Budapest Festival Orchestra joined by the soloist Richard Goode.

Sergei Rachmaninov Vocalise Opus 34 No.13 Ivan Fischer conducts the Budapest Festival Orchestra

Antonin Dvorak Symphony No.9 in E minor Opus 95 (‘From the New World’) Adam Fischer conducts the Budapest Festival Orchestra

Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4 in G minor Opus 58 Piano: Richard Goode Ivan Fischer conducts the Budapest Festival Orchestra

Zoltan Kodaly Hary Janos Suite Ivan Fischer conducts the Budapest Festival Orchestra

6 THURSDAY 29 MARCH

8pm to 10pm: THE FULL WORKS CONCERT: GREAT ORCHESTRAS OF THE WORLD – NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Tonight, Catherine Bott takes us Stateside, as we celebrate the distinctively confident, American sound of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Not surprisingly, the majority of our Full Works Concert is devoted to American composers, whose music the New York Phil excels in performing. We began with Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, before going on to enjoy a wonderful recording of Bernstein’s Fancy Free, conducted by the composer in this, his centenary year.

Bernstein – whose relationship with the New York Phil ran for decades – is also on the podium for a wistful, elegiac recording of the Copland Clarinet Concerto, and there’s some proudly patriotic music by Charles Ives to close our concert.

In between these American favourites, Catherine also offers us a chance to enjoy Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.2, featuring the Soviet-Austrian pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja.

George Gershwin Cuban Overture Zubin Mehta conducts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2 in G major Opus 44 Piano: Elisabeth Leonskaja Kurt Masur conducts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra

Leonard Bernstein Fancy Free Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra

Aaron Copland Clarinet Concerto Clarinet: Stanley Drucker Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra

Charles Ives Variations on ‘America’ Kurt Masur conducts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra

7 FRIDAY 30 MARCH

9am to 9pm: THE CLASSIC FM HALL OF FAME

This Easter weekend, Classic FM counts down the world’s biggest annual survey of classical music tastes: The Classic FM Hall of Fame.

From 9am to 9pm, across all four days, we’ll unveil the 300 pieces of music the nation has chosen as its favourites, with that all-important number one revealed just before 9pm on Easter Monday.

9am to 12pm: THE CLASSIC FM HALL OF FAME with TIM LIHOREAU

12pm to 3pm: THE CLASSIC FM HALL OF FAME with ANNE-MARIE MINHALL

3pm to 6pm: THE CLASSIC FM HALL OF FAME with JOHN BRUNNING

6pm to 9pm: THE CLASSIC FM HALL OF FAME with CATHERINE BOTT

9pm to 10pm: BLOWERS AROUND BRITAIN with HENRY BLOFELD

Tonight, one of the nation’s best loved broadcasters joins Classic FM to present a new radio series, celebrating the wealth of great classical music composed within and written about the British Isles.

For the next four evenings, Blowers Around Britain will explore all four corners of the British Isles, shining the spotlight on well-known and less familiar music, interspersed with stories behind the works and Blowers’ own recollections of what makes Britain great.

The series will feature a range of composers from George Frideric Handel to Gustav Holst, Sir Karl Jenkins to John Rutter and Sir to – with recordings from world-class orchestras and choirs, such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, London Symphony, Royal Scottish National and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras.

Classic FM is inviting its listeners to be part of the new series, by sharing their stories about the great classical music they have discovered. Visit ClassicFM.com for more information.

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